Dear Spotty Chop, you are 36 months old

Dooce does a great thing on her blog, every month she writes a letter to her daughter and the letters are beautiful. Someday her little girl will be able to read them, see what she was like at a young age and know that she was loved more than anything. I thought I might try my hand at it as well.

So Spotty Chop, you are 36 months old. That kind of freaks me out a bit; just yesterday I swear you were 2 or 3 months at the most. You are being really affectionate lately. You tell us you love us out of the blue, which is really nice and is sometimes the only good thing I hear all day. You love to stand behind me while I am sitting on the couch or floor and you put your arms around my neck and give me hugs…actually you swing from my neck, maybe you are actually trying to kill me? You have always loved to play with my hair, especially when you fall asleep, but lately you want both your arms around my neck. You have also been wrapping your arms around one of our arms and usually rest your head against us. You give lots of kisses and sometimes will end it with a special Eskimo kiss. Of course every time I ask for a kiss I get one, when Boy toy asks for one he is usually rejected. Heh. Being in your presence when you are like this is better than any drug; you really make life worth living.

You and dada have been playing Theivieous Racoonus, a video game in which a cartoon fox steals from the bad thieves as there is no honor in stealing from regular folks. You are all about encouraging your daddy. “You can do it Dada! I know you can!” “Go dada go, go dada go”! I am finding that I need to force you to leave the house, because all you want to do is play video games, and while I might think on occasion that I should be concerned, you have done the same thing with TV shows, movies and movie extras.

Your imaginative play is incredible. You have started playing “baby”, you will come over to me and say “come on baby, time to change your dydee,” or “it’s time for sleepies”. I usually will throw a complete shit fit screaming, crying and generally carrying on. I could see it in your face at first a “WTF”, and then you got a little grin and I could see a light bulb go off. What surprises me is how gentle you are with me when you are playing baby. You coax and snuggles me, you say “there there baby, its ok”, you take my hand and gently lead me to where you want me to go. I think empathy is going to be a strength of yours.

Over the weekend, you did something new. You picked up the guitar that Moo and Freak Show bought you and started to play, which is not new, but then you started singing. “A long time ago, I had a really great day…this went on for a minute or two, then you said “the end”. Boy toy and I both clapped enthusiastically. You took a few sitting bows and had the biggest grin on your face. Throughout the weekend, you would just start singing to us. I am so impressed. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you need to become a superstar, but to see you trying out new things and being so in the moment is breathtaking.